Rare Book Monthly

David Lesser Offers Rare Americana

- by Michael Stillman

Photographs from the U.S.-Mexico boundary commission.

Item 12 is a Civil War printing from the field, a broadside headed Preamble and Resolutions Adopted by the Second Brigade, General Baird's Division, in Camp Near Nashville, Tenn., March 2, 1863. These were adopted by the soldiers in the brigade who came from Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and it is an attack on “Copperheads” back home. Copperheads were northerners who were sympathetic to the South during the war. Ultimately, it was virtually inevitable that the larger Union troops would win the war. The only question was whether northerners would become war weary before victory could be achieved and agree to a settlement favorable to the South. The Copperheads encouraged the North to give in. In this piece, the soldiers make clear their “utter detestation” for the Copperheads, describing them as “that clique of miscreants in the loyal States, who, under the garb of assumed loyalty, use the stolen revenue of arch treason to excite petty treason in their own communities...” $1,500.

Item 93 is the photographic album from the Report of the Boundary Commission upon the Survey and Re-Marking of the Boundary Between the United States and Mexico West of the Rio Grande. 1891-1896. Offered is just the photographic album (not including the text), which contains 258 glossy black and white photographic plates of the 258 monuments along the way. Along with the monuments, the photos display the scenery along the border, surveyors, and some locals and animals. Several local residents are seen milling about a building by the monument in Nogales. $1,000.